Out talking to people, almost all Canadians know about and make a comment on Mitt Romney's campaign. It seems that these Canadians are WAY more involved and concerned about our country than they are their own, which I find amusing. Nearly all comments and opinions I hear about him have been positive. He is doing a great work for the church weather he realizes it or not-he's getting our name out there and causing a lot of curiosity. It will be very interesting to see if he takes the crown or not...

Well, here are some pictures I took recently.

Elder Conner Jasperson and Elder Matt Porter at a traning meeting

Elder Webster and Elder Porter

French Toast with REAL Quebec maple syrup. It really makes a difference! Notice the can is in French.

Typical street in North York

Typical apartment

Typical building we tract in

On a mission I have learned the principle of accountability. Not accountability to my leaders, my companion, or my mission president, but to myself and to the Lord. Anybody who develops this automatically has an invincible sense of self-enforced integrity. I account every night and wait for a spiritual confirmation to know if my efforts were accepted and smiled upon today. Anybody can ENDURE by STAYING HAPPY no matter what they are going through if they know the Lord is pleased with their chosen course of action. It’s quite simply really. Just account and do your best and you will be happy!

I wanted to leave a quick note and story. I know very strongly that prayers are answered. Lately I've been going through another rough patch.  It is so frustrating that often times, although I may not act on it, I have huge levels of frustration and annoyance inside my heart. I try to get rid of it of course, but even Christ got frustrated with people when they were in the wrong. I do my best to prayerfully respond to my situation with love, humility, and care. Often times I succeed and feel great about my reaction, other times I am not 100% at peace with the way I act. I am not perfect, and feel that I expect myself to be. It causes a lot of times when I am too hard on myself for it. My district is doing great right now! The other English area had a baptism yesterday, and the two Farsi areas had 8 people to church between them, which is great! Our area has had 2 people at church the past month and I've been working my tail off.  Over the past month my confidence has gone down. My finding has become ineffective due to contacting 1000's of people in a row with not even one break. I feel my finding is hollow and my approach rote. I have had feelings of inadequacy, self doubt, depression, and frustration. I just wasn't sure if I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I didn't know if I was succeeding or failing and it was so painful being where I was.....I fasted and prayed to know my standing with the Lord concerning my missionary work. In the evening our District had an ESL class. After ESL, Elder Hyatt, a missionary in my district, asked if he could talk to me. We went into a classroom and closed the door and he expressed his thanks and gratitude for me. He said that I needed to be here because of the incredible influence I have had on others around me. He said I have no idea what I've done for the missionaries in this area. He encouraged me to keep going and keep pushing when things get hard, because I have no idea how much influence I am having on people around me. He told me I am the best, well put-together missionary he's ever seen and that he loves me.....

These things are quite the opposite of what I had been feeling and had thought about myself. It was easy for me to recognize this as an answer from my Heavenly Father that I am on track. That I am performing and acting in the way He wants me to. I am not perfect or at the standard I want to act at, but it’s impossible to do so. My daily repentance and recommitment has been adequate to make the Lord proud and fulfill His purposes in having me be here in my exact spot for the last 6 months. I have trust in Him. 2 Nephi 4 was especially helpful and conveys my feelings and thoughts. I have a testimony that this is the Lord's work. That he is in control, and that He loves us. I know prayers are answered and that Father loves us so much. I want literally more than anything else in my sphere of existence to do what Heavenly Father wants me to do. Nothing else compares. Nothing. I know this gospel real. Keep going. Keep pushing. The storm and winds and sleet and whirlwinds will stop eventually. All will be alright if we trust in God and continually look forward to His promised blessings. I leave my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ.

I love you tons! My District is going downtown today! Transfer calls are this Sunday, I've been here for 6 months, and I’m probably gone. This is my last P-day here so we're hitting downtown! Don't worry; I'll take lots of pictures!

Love,

E. Porter

February 6, 2012

A beautiful winter continues to bless us here in Toronto! The weather, just like Utah, has been unusually sunny and dry. I've only broken out my boots 4 times so far-it’s been great. The weather rarely drops below 20F-ish. We've had a few cold days but it’s been nice overall. It helps us smile more when it’s not freezing.

I love my mission. Right now the work is slower than we would like. We've hit some challenges, but are striving to move forward. I have grown to love the area I am in, and will be devastated if I get a call to leave. I love my District, my area, my investigators, my ward, and the remarkable people who travel to Toronto from all over the world.

Lately most of our work has been moving towards finding efforts. Rather than being out in the cold for hours on end tracting, we have the option of moving into big tall apartment buildings. 10, 20, 30 story buildings are common to tract in the city. There is never a lack of people in the city which is nice as well. There are always packed buses and subways at night that are full of people to talk to. It is so different from Utah here that I might have a culture shock going back someday! We rarely talk to true Canadians, almost everyone is from over-seas. Lots of people from the Philippines, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, China, Western Africa, the Caribbean, and pretty much every other place you can imagine. It is incredible.

Today I simply want to bear my testimony about prayer. I know prayers are heard and answered. Heavenly Father manages our lives to such small details; we will be astounded when we come someday to realize how deeply he was involved. If we are humble and pray with real intent, then He will answer us! I have faced a particular challenge in my companionship lately. It has been slowing down our missionary work and has been causing tension. I have many times wondered what the solution for our problem is. I have also wondered why I am still in my current area. Why I am with my current companion. What lesson am I supposed to learn from being here? What trait am I supposed to develop? What am I supposed to accomplish? I have many times gone to bed feeling lonely or discouraged because I didn't have answers for these questions. I haven't seen the success in the past month or two that I would like to see and I have been looking for what purpose I was fulfilling, if any. I had forgotten who is really in charge-who manages our individual lives and who directs specifically a mission by revelation. I wasn't able to find my answers until I fully turned to Him for help.

As we put our trust in Heavenly Father he can give us the answers we seek. Consistently throughout the past week my answer has come through scripture study, through experiences in my missionary work, and through new ideas come into my heart as I pray sincerely. I have my solution and I will work hard to fulfill the divine purpose I have being where I am. He will help each of us overcome feelings of doubt or fear. Many times we do not know ALL we are supposed to do, or HOW we are supposed to do it. Many times the only thing He reveals to us is the final result that surely comes from being faithful. With faith in the final result, we can move forward, being "led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which [we] must do." I testify that the Lord is mindful of us, and that he has given us a view of the final result, if we are faithful. Think of the temple's blessings. Think of your Patriarchal blessing. Think of the Plan of Salvation. We can have faith in the final result, and move forward as He would have us do.

Love,

Elder Porter

January 23, 2012

Being a missionary is debatably the best thing ever.

We get to watch people grow and change and progress and repent and become better, happier, more peace-filled people. I have developed a great love for the people around me. Some I know, many I do not. I love them and desire their happiness which can only fully come through baptism and confirmation. I know that this is the truth. A particularly interesting process to see is people pushing evil out of their lives, and enlarging the good. There was a talk in church the other week that illustrates my point.

The lady speaking told of how her front and back lawn has had a problem with a certain type of weed for many years. Every year the grass grows, looks great, but then the weed come and infests the front and back. The family hurries out every spring and pulls as many as they can. No matter the amount of time they spend trying to pick all the bad weeds, there are always more. They keep growing and they continually find weeds that they did not see or did not notice beforehand. There was no way, as time and experience had taught them, to get rid of the problem by picking the weeks alone. It just wasn't enough.

The family went to a landscaper and asked for advice. When he heard the course of action they had taken, he simply said, "Oh, well that won't work! You'll never be able to get rid of the weeds before they seed and produce even more problems." He explained to them that the true secret in pushing out the bad weeds was to not focus on plucking out the weeds, but to spent time and energy on making the grass stronger. Strengthening the roots of the grass eventually will push the bad weeds out, and in just a few months, the lawn should be completely weed- free!

The family put into action what they had learned. They used fertilizer, they watered an appropriate amount, and they took great care to simply strengthen the roots of the grass. In just a few months, the yard was free of the problems it had been experiencing for over 15 years.

How many times in our life do we stop, recognize all the problems, weaknesses, shortfalls, and carnal weaknesses that we have and try to pick and pluck them out? Simply focusing on getting rid of weaknesses is great, but it won't cleanse us of the long term problems. As we focus on the things that strengthen our roots-scriptures, fasting, prayer, good family relations, actively learning from church, then our new strength often times will overcome our problems and weaknesses from the past! Our problems will be thrust out, and we will enjoy a more clean, pure, healthy and enjoyable lifestyle. This is a repeatedly demonstrated pattern in the Book of Mormon. You fight the influences of Satan with more good. More spirit. More closeness to Father in Heaven.

This is a valuable lesson I have learned. Focusing on our roots brings lasting and fulfilling results as we work towards becoming more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.

January 9, 2012

I had with President Scott, we somehow got on the tangant of repentance and obtaining a well set place in the eyes of the Lord. It all comes down to establishing a righteous pattern of living. Of working hard. Of picking things immediately back up after you drop them. From not worrying or waiting, but from going out and doing! That is a lesson I learned while I was here. I did EVERYTHING within my power to qualify for the Lord's blessings. There is no such thing as personal time on a mission I have realized. It is all the Lord's time. Every second. Breaks, mornings, and evenings. The only way to find yourself is to lose yourself.

Status of investigator pool...things got flushed out pretty quickly a few weeks ago and we were left with almost nothing. The past 2 weeks we've found a lot of people and are seeing many of them this coming week. The next few days will strongly determine who will progress and who will not. I'll be able to better talk about it next week. Celine is doing incredible! She got her recommend for her Patriarchal blessing yesterday. She's doing great, reading like 10 chapters of the Book of Mormon a day and still keeping up her strong testimony. She has found out about BYU and is seriously looking into it. She is a convert, fluent in 3 languages, is a cute German girl, and wants to go into business and law. Her grades are perfect. Would there be a more perfect place for her than BYU? I don't think so. Missionaries aren't really supposed to encourage stuff like that so it’s hard to choose what to say and what to not say. We'll see I guess, but it’s possible you could get to know her quite well in the coming years! That would be awesome.

I love you. A lot. I miss you and I miss the rest of the family. Keep your faith high and keep moving forward! There is a plan and a purpose for everything.

Love your son,

Elder Porter

January 3, 2012

My New Year was great!! I tracted in the freezing rain for 3 hours after dinner! What did you do?

Haha, no but it was good. I don't remember what I did during the day, nothing special at all. Can you believe that for the ENTIRE year of 2011 I was on my mission? Come and gone just like that. BANG! Too fast...

I definately know the feeling of wishing you could get a few extra weeks into the space between two days. Quite honestly I am not good at preparing District Meetings. Once a week I get to prayerfully select a topic that the District needs in order to keep moving forward. It may be goal setting or finding tecniques or reviewing the lessons or something like that. I then prepare a 90 minute meeting on the subject. I get stressed while I plan and quite simply don't feel like I've done a stellar job with them so far. I always wish I had more time! I feel good about the meeting I have planned for tomorrow though..its about preparing for and teaching lessons. Hopefully it will be a good spiritual experience.

A mission is pretty cool though, eh? A year ago I couldn't have been able to put together a 90 minute presentation let alone do it every week on a different subject! I sometimes forget how far I've come.  Sorry I don't have more for this week!  Love, E. Porter

December 28, 2011

Anyways, it was SO great to talk to the family! The kids all looked a bit older. Nicole looks older, Nathan looks a lot different and older, especially his voice! It is changed now when a year ago it wasn't. I could definately tell that the boys had grown a lot. Nicole just looked like she had shrunk a lot actually, haha! Was Nathan taller than Nicole when I left?? He is wayyy taller than her now which I thought was weird. Everybody looks great! Including Grandpa.

Oooh! I'm glad you got the letter....it was intented to arrive before Christmas but I guess it was a bit slow. It was my Christmas present to the family! Nothing fancy but it is sincere.

December 19, 2011

What a blessing to be a representative of Jesus Christ! My favorite thing is that because we are immersed in the gospel so frequently, we are able to truly have the spirit of revelation show us what we can become and how we can do it. It brings more happiness and peace than anything else. A mission truly is a wonderful experience.

As missionaries, our purpose is to baptize. It feels good when you fulfill your purpose. We were able to fulfill our commission yesterday as Celine was baptized and confirmed. She is an elect child of God that was foreordained to bump into us during her short visit to Toronto. That point is not in question. She has been prepared through her life to accept the truths of the Gospel. They have blessed her already, and there is a visible change in her actions and way she carries herself. She has become more Christ like since she has accepted to learn about the gospel. After her confirmation she was glowing with the spirit. She was radiating the Light of Christ. What a blessing to be apart of a great conversion. Aspects of her conversion have greatly increased my testimony. I know prayers are answered in ways we don't always expect. Often times, Heavenly Father will gently remind us what we already know is true. When we know what is true, we know how we should act and respond to people and circumstances around us.

As some of you may know, the part of the world I am serving in is very unique. It is the melting-pot of the world. People from all cultures and countries come to Toronto for safety, a new life, more work, and many other reasons. One of the dominant ethnicities here in the part of the city I am living is in Persians. People from Iran, and the surrounding areas. These people are amazing; they are very nice, loving, and genuine. They are sensitive to the spirit and have special spiritual strengths that quite frankly many people from other parts of the world do not have. There are 4 Farsi speaking missionaries in my District-the only 4 in the world. Because of legal issues, the baptismal interview is usually done by a Mission President or someone that he assigns. I was temporarily with a Farsi Elder yesterday during one of these baptismal interviews. I was sitting in a close by room to where the interview was, and I overheard some of the things that were said. In the certain part of the world where this baptismal candidate was from, it is illegal to switch from the predominant religion to Christianity. It is such a serious crime that you will be killed if they catch you. The government will hunt you down and kill you if they find out. Baptismal candidates are well aware of the danger, but they need to be reminded in the interview. I sat quietly and listened as this young lady bore her testimony and unprompted, committed to stand faithful to the Restored Gospel until death, if necessary. She echoed the words in Mosiah 18:9. She was willing, and wanted with all her heart to make a covenant with God to stand as a witness of Christ until death....I never really thought that that verse applied to us in this day and age until I saw it apply to someone yesterday. The stories of standing up for the faith until death in the Book of Mormon really happened, but what many of us don't realize is that they are happening right now! In the world we live in today! People still are faced with those decisions; it’s not a thing of the past or just in the scriptures! This experience made me think about my testimony. About how strong it is. About the covenants I renewed last Sunday and the covenants I made in the temple. I have committed to the same thing. Many of us have. This holiday season is an excellent time to re-evaluate our commitment to Christ. We must stick to what we have promised God. I testify we will feel His love and approval as we live up to what we know we should.

-Elder Porter